Zecti is a new small company hoping to make a mark with several of their products, one of which is the Zecti 55 inch Camera Tripod. This is made of lightweight aluminium which retails for a competitive price of £54.99. However, Zecti have offered a £5 discount. See end of post.
I have been using the Zecti tripod for over 2 weeks now and it has impressed me from the moment I unboxed it. For starters, it comes in a protective bag as shown above. The next aspect I have noticed with this tripod is its versatility. It is so much better than my Amazon Basic tripod which is so heavy compared to the Zecti tripod.
The Ball Head
The Ball Head is made of an aluminum alloy material and has a built in bubble level indicator. It works with a 3/8″ screw mount for a tripod and a 1/4″ screw. It has a thread on plate for easy removal of your camera. See photos. The ball head is a 360 degree panoramic head.
The Tripod Options
The tripod comes in a black finish, weighing 1450g. It has a maximum load of 5kg. Its folded length is 350mm. Max Height is 1410mm. It is made from an aluminum alloy.
The inversion of central axis is ideal for macro shooting like insects, flowers, grass and etc.It has a removable quick-release plate, comes with 1/4″ screw, suitable for most of DLSR cameras, a universal ballhead design with 360° dial, allow you to adjust the angle freely and quickly, comes with leg angle adjustment with locking every single leg, has a 4-section column leg, giving a more convenient leg handling, meet your desired shooting height. But just as important it folds to an incredible small compact and light weight design.
In The Box
1 x tripod with ball head
1 x ball head protecting bag
1 x monopod waist pouch
1x hexagonal wrench
1 x user manual
1 x carry bag
In terms of what is included you really can’t ask for anything else. One of the tricks of this tripod is becoming a monopod and really quickly too.
Final Words
I have grown to really enjoy using the Zecti Camera Tripod. It comes in a neat carry bag and its versatility at such a competitive price makes this a win for me. This has replaced my main tripod too.
Useful Links
Don’t forget to use code BWIDJRK3 and link below to get a £8 discount. This will expire soon.
It is hard to believe that yesterday evening and into the early hours the UK got hit by Storm Angus. In the South West of England, the storm hit hard causing flooding, gale force winds with lots of trees falling and more.
Up here on the Moors of Dartmoor, I was expecting the storm to be significantly worse due to the rural exposed environment. It wasn’t pleasant but we didn’t get the full force luckily.
Anyway, this morning I took my 3 Labradors out for their walk on Dartmoor. It was water logged, soft sinking mud in places but otherwise the sun was out looking glorious. The weather is due to turn nasty again, as I write this the sun has now vanished leaving an overcast sky.
I created a short video using my iPhone 7 Plus and Sony RX100. The video is from the iPhone.
Over the weekend, I went out with my Apple iPhone Plus photographing various places across Dartmoor National Park.
No filters were used for any of the shots below To view the original photo, just click on it. The only apps used were the default camera app and Adobe Lightroom mobile (for editing and snapping raw photos).
Before I set off on my huge walk, I tucked into a lightweight meal.
The above breakfast is from the Cafe on the Green, Widecombe on the Moor.
You can park near to Saddle Tor. Well its an uphill walk from the car park all the way to the top of Saddle Tor. From the photo above you can see Saddle Tor and Haytor in the distance.
Saddle Tor is a huge lump of granite and provides views for miles across Dartmoor.
From the top of Saddle Tor, you can see Haytor shown above. The telephoto lens was used for this shot.
About 50% of the way walking up to the top of Saddle Tor, I was able to snap this landscape view.
A quick flip in to portrait mode to snap this shot of a Dartmoor pony.
On the outskirts of some woodland area around Haytor, I noticed this toadstool. Highly poisonous and hallucinogenic. Its called a fly agaric. Portrait mode was not used for this photo.
The only way to take this photo of the ponies was using the telephoto lens. Using the normal wide angle lens, the ponies were just small dots.
The above photo is of Widecombe on the Moor. A historic village on Dartmoor baked in history.
And a quick flip over to the telephoto lens to get closer to the action.
And finally one of my three labradors, George, Fury and Tiggy.
Bellever Forest is based in Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK. The East Dart River runs through Bellever Forest which makes a great setting for having a picnic. Alternatively you can enjoy several walks around the forest, or enjoy some great views from the top of Bellever Tor. This is the map reference for finding Bellever Forest using Google Maps – https://goo.gl/maps/2bsmxtHyRRB2
There are 4 trails that you can walk along. The Bellever, Easy Access, Postrbridge and Lich Way Trail. For more information on these trails, Click HERE. I have walked the Bellever and Easy Access trails, both of which were enjoyable.
There is parking and toilets. Cars and motorbikes pay £1 for up to two hours and £2 for over two hours. There is a flat rate for minibuses of £4.
Typical Dartmoor fog descends over Bellever Forest.
Dartmoor Ponies are common in the forest.
As its an active forest, tree felling is common place.
You get some really vivid colours too.
On a foggy day, the view from Bellever Tor can be restricted.
View of Bellever Tor
Walking on the Easy Trail is fairly well marked. About one quarter is on soft grass tracks, which can be muddy at times.
Finally, the summit of Bellever Tor in the fog.
Bellever Forest Timelapse – Having a picnic near the river is recommended.
Bellever Forest is a fabulous place to visit, either to relax and take in the scenery or try out one of the walks around the forest and up to Bellever Tor.
Looking at the tree trunk the edges when zoomed in reveal the same issues. Portrait mode works better when there is a defined edge and not bits of hair.
If you look at the crosses the portrait effect works quite well. The shot that worked better out of the two cross shots had less strong light interfering with the scene. The sun was the culprit.
Welcome to my review of the DJI Osmo Mobile. The DJI Osmo Mobile is the new gimbal from DJI for your smartphone.
The Key Features
– ActiveTrack technology built into the DJI GO app allows the Osmo Mobile to automatically keep your smartphone facing you as you move. (not available on the android app currently, only iOS)
– The Osmo Mobile’s 3-axis gimbal system smooths out the movements you make, turning every shot into cinematic video.
– With a few taps, the Osmo Mobile motion timelapse feature shoots video showing the passing of time.
– The Osmo Mobile lets you share special moments in real time using YouTube Live inside the DJI GO app.
– Shoot better photos in low light, with powerful camera stabilisation and full manual camera control.
– The Osmo Mobile’s panorama function automatically captures and blends 9 separate photos together to create one stunning photo.
– Used with its range of accessories, the Osmo Mobile can be mounted almost anywhere, giving you even more opportunities to get that perfect shot.
– Enjoy more than just DJI GO. Osmo Mobile is open for developers to customise.
Above is the optional base to quickly drop the DJI into. The underneath of the base also has a standard tripod screw.
The photo below shows the extension arm secured into the tripod base. The tripod legs extend further in one solid movement.
Video Overview of Hardware, Accessories and DJI Go App
The Lowdown
– The Osmo Mobile supports smartphones measuring from 58.6mm-84.8mm width and up to 8.4mm thick.
– ActiveTrack – The fastest it can track is the same as its Max Controllable Speed, 120°/s.
– ActiveTrack is a feature currently only available on iOS.
– YouTube Livestreaming or Stream Live to Facebook.
– DJI Go App – Lots of extra features (see video) but needs update to fully support iOS 10 and the iPhone 7 Plus telephoto lens.
– iPhone 6S Plus or 7 Plus does not fit with a case on.
– Apart from the normal timelapse mode, there is a motion timelapse option
– The optional base has a tripod screw underneath
– The DJI Go Movie editing app has a wealth of great music but does seem to degrade video quality slightly compared to using iMovie in iOS.
– Connects perfectly every time. With the iPhone 7 and the loss of the headphone jack, it becomes impossible to use an external mic without some trickery or additional hardware.
Sample Video from the DJI Osmo Mobile using the iPhone 7 Plus
My Experience
I have used the DJI Osmo Mobile extensively now and I was surprised that none of the reviews and YouTube videos mentioned that if you are using the iPhone 7 Plus or similar sized phone, it won’t fit or stabilise with any case fitted. I tried with the Apple silicone and leather case. Also, at the time of writing this review (I delayed the review too hoping for an update from DJI), the DJI Go app only supports 1080p video at 30fps and not 60fps as per the default camera app. You can use the DJI with other third party camera apps. The iPhone 7 Plus telephoto lens is not supported in the app either yet from DJI. It looks like DJI need to update the app properly for iOS 10! To connect the DJI to a tripod you will need the extension arm. This has a standard tripod mount screw underneath. If I had know this prior to purchase I would not have bought the DJI tripod base, as this used with the extension arm is not still enough in the winds of Dartmoor.
In the photo above you can see the extension arm is attached to my normal tripod and securely. I am keeping the DJI tripod base as this works well indoors as a lightweight alternative. The plastic base from DJI is ideal for placing the DJI Osmo Mobile into for quick use, say on a table for editing VLOGs.
The motion time lapse mode is fantastic. Panoramic shots are spooky good. The gimbal just moves all buy itself to take the panoramic photos. However, the file size outputted is only around 3mb vs the native iPhone app which can be over 3 times this size.
One problem using the DJI with the iPhone 7 is the OIS on the iPhone sometimes conflicts with the DJI. There is not much you can do about this, accept during post processing when this can be fixed. All the footage shown has not been adjusted to enable you to see what you get first hand.
Despite some of the negatives, which will likely be solved when DJI updated their app, I have found the DJI Osmo Mobile a joy to use. The included software adds lots of extra functionality and the active tracking is superb.
Conclusion
Despite some bugs in the DJI Go app, it is one of the easiest gimbals to use and setup. It also works really well and the extra options provided by the software make it a joy to use. Highly recommended.
More detailed information and pricing on the DJI Osmo Mobile – Click HERE.
So I have now had the Apple iPhone 7 Plus for about one month, during which time I have snapped hundreds and hundreds of photos.
I reckon it takes about a month to start to extract the best shots from any phone. It also allows for third party apps to be updated to enjoy the new iPhone.
So just how good is the camera on the Apple iPhone 7 Plus?
Check out the collection of photos collated into the below video.
The sunrises and sunsets on Dartmoor recently have been spectacular with some vivid colours. So as part of my review process I decided to test the motion time lapse mode on the DJI Osmo Mobile, shown above. For the sunset motion time lapse shown below, I have the DJI extension attached to the DJI Osmo Mobile. The extension piece has a tripod screw which allows for a decent connection to my tripod.
Using the DJI Go app, you select motion time lapse, then you select the start and end points of the time lapse. You can several points too to make the motion time lapse more interesting. Next the duration between taking a photo and the overall length of time required is set. All you now have to do is press the shutter to start, and the DJI Osmo Mobile does the rest.
So far so good. But I wanted to know how much the DJI Osmo Mobile could stabilise the iPhone 7 Plus in extreme winds. During the recording of the below motion time lapse, I was concerned my tripod was going to be blown over many times. Fortunately, it didn’t. Despite the very strong winds, the DJI did a reasonable job too.
And finally, at sunrise yesterday, I couldn’t resist this view on Dartmoor. Snapped using Adobe Lightroom mobile, in raw, and post processed with Adobe Lightroom mobile.
Just when you think you have seen everything, just out this 3 second footage revealing the wild beasts of Dartmoor. Shot on my iPhone 7 Plus using the default camera app.
The DJI Osmo Mobile is the new king on the block for stabilising your iPhone and android. Sorry no windows smartphone support.
It comes with a swish app on android and iOS too which adds a whole wealth of features. Now, I have watched many YouTube reviews of this new stabiliser and most left out the weaknesses. I intend to cover off everything, good and bad.
For now below are 2 short clips, both stabilised. One edited using the DJI Go app and the other using iMovie.
First up the clip using the DJI Go app.
And next a clip created using iMovie on the iPhone 7 Plus.
Now, these are the first video clips from the DJI Osmo Mobile and I am certain based on my learning curve, I should be able to improve the footage and the types of shots possible from moving timelapses and more.
Useful Link
More info and latest deal on Amazon UK – Click HERE.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 